Virgin Media, Britain’s second-largest broadband provider, has become the
first to block access to The Pirate Bay file sharing website after a High
Court order.

More than four million subscribers were cut off from www.thepiratebay.se on Wednesday evening.

Virgin Media was one of five major broadband firms ordered to block the website on Monday after an application to the High Court by the BPI, a record industry trade body. The Pirate Bay, based in Sweden, offers an index of millions of copyright songs, films and TV shows to download from other users via the BitTorrent file sharing protocol.

Attempts to access the The Pirate Bay are now diverted to a page explaining it is “not available through Virgin Media”. The firm made technical preparations in expectation of the High Court ruling this week. It is using an adapted version of its "Web Blocker" system, originally developed to restrict access to child abuse material on the web.

In response, users are sharing and tips on how to work around the blocking via Twitter, as well as addresses for the website that are not covered by the High Court order. It allows for more addresses to be cut off over time, however.

The Pirate Bay, the most popular website of its kind, is the second to be embargoed by senior judges, following a landmark ruling that targeted Newzbin2 last year. The entertainment industry decided to apply to force broadband providers to block them after legal attacks on the websites themselves failed to have any impact.

In response to the High Court’s ruling earlier this week, a spokesman for Virgin Media said it was required to act.

“As a responsible ISP, Virgin Media complies with court orders addressed to the company but strongly believes that changing consumer behaviour to tackle copyright infringement also needs compelling legal alternatives, such as our agreement with Spotify, to give consumers access to great content at the right price,” he added.

The other broadband providers that have been ordered to block The Pirate Bay but have not yet acted are Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky and TalkTalk. A decision on whether BT will also cut off access is expected within weeks.

Opponents of the court order argue it is a threat to free speech and that users will switch to alternatives or circumvent the blocking with relative ease.